1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of software. More particularly, the present invention relates to a software development tool producing code representative of a graphics user interface (GUI) display selected by a user.
2. Background Art
Over the last few years, there has been an increased demand for entertainment systems working in conjunction with various types of content providers such as broadcasters and cable companies. One type of entertainment system is a digital satellite system (DSS) featuring an antenna and an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) to receive a digital bit stream. IRD is responsible for decoding the bit stream and processing the decoded bit stream to produce an output signal of an appropriate format. The output signal is sent to one or more peripherals such as a television for displaying an image. The IRD includes hardware and software responsive to signals produced by depressing buttons on its front panel or on its remote control. These signals are interpreted by the RD as operational commands such as display a selected screen, tune to a selected channel and the like.
Typically, executable code for entertainment systems and other embedded systems is developed having a main program making function calls to sub-programs (referred to as xe2x80x9cmodulesxe2x80x9d) which perform specific operations. Different software developers may be assigned the responsibility of programming different modules to interface with the main program. For example, a graphics user interface (GUI) of the entertainment system may include a first module featuring code that, when executed, causes an image of a button to be produced on a screen display. The GUT may further include a second module featuring code to illuminate the button, when selected, with a different color or greater pixel illumination intensity than normal. After these modules are completed, the main program is executed and linked with the modules acting as a software library to produce the screen display of the GUI. Thereafter, the modules associated with the screen display can be modified to achieve their desired visual impression.
It has been realized that both of this conventional coding technique is time-intensive in writing and debugging the code as well as modifying the code to produce a desired screen display. It is contemplated that it would be advantageous to develop a software tool that performs object-based programming and converts the selected objects of the screen display into software code.
A technique for converting displayable objects of a graphics user interface (GUI) display into a code representation with minimal user intervention. The technique includes creation of the GUI display and analysis of each displayable object when prompted by the user to convert to a code representation. The analysis features accessing parameters of each displayable object to produce an object data file, a color data file storing colors used by the displayable objects of the GUI display and a bitmap data file to contain bitmaps of logos or images featured in the GUI display. These data files are compiled with an implementation file featuring a software library to generate an executable program having the code representation of the GUI display.